About

I wrote SpreadsheetLight over hours of extensive research in Open XML spreadsheets and the behaviour of Microsoft Excel. I play around with the Excel user interface almost as many hours as I do writing the library code. I also read Excel user guides.

Because allowing you to do certain tasks isn’t just the goal. Allowing you to do certain tasks super awesomely easy, is.

This means if you know how to use Excel, then all the functions will feel intuitively similar. What’s more, your users are probably familiar with Excel (or at least with spreadsheet software). That means your users will give you software requirements in terms of spreadsheet language (most probably in terms of Excel functions), which means it’s easier for you to translate said requirements using SpreadsheetLight.

“I just select this range of cells, click on that column chart thing to create a chart. Then I select that set of data… what? It’s called a data series? Whatever. Then I make it have a different background colour. What do you mean it’s hard to do? It’s so easy in Excel!”

-Your User

Yes. Exactly.

I designed SpreadsheetLight so you can sort of follow those user-given instructions as easily as possible.

I also write a blog on mathematics and programming (and other curious things…) at Polymath Programmer.

I’d also be eternally grateful if you support SpreadsheetLight with a small token of your appreciation. Or just tell everyone you know about it. (While shouting at the top of your lungs in the middle of a busy street telling all the people around you about how great SpreadsheetLight is, I do not recommend that you do it. I’d be very happy if you do though, but you know, I don’t recommend it.)

Also, the header banner of the website, the favicon, and the gorgeous “commercial software box” graphics are created by Charfish Design.